Mafia 3's underbosses can turn on you if they're neglected

Mafia III hits shelves later this year, and we learned a lot about the open world crime game at E3. Now, lead writer Bill Harms has revealed a bit more about how the game's underbosses and districts will work.

Protagonist Lincoln Clay finds himself in New Bordeaux during the late sixties, as he seeks revenge on Sal Marcano for killing the black mob. He's working towards his goal with three underbosses: Cassandra, the leader of the Haitian gang; Thomas Burke, a member of the Irish mob; and Vito Scaletta, the protagonist from Mafia II.

"As you play through the game, you can assign out one of the nine districts to one of the underbosses," Harms said. "One of the things we're really trying to do is have these rich, deep characters in terms of the underbosses."

Harms says players will be conflicted, as they may like one character over the other, but another character might have a better perk or bonus you can get for assigning them a district. He notes that ignoring a character and not giving them any districts has its consequences.

"Depending on how the player assigns those districts, it can turn one of those underbosses ... against you," Harms explained. "So, in the case that you're talking about, Cassandra and Vito have received all the districts up to that point, and Burke was like, 'I'm done.' And basically at that point, they revolt against Lincoln and he has to deal with it."

Harms also talked about the time spent on making Mafia III feel era-appropriate with things like its radio stations and the weapons. You can watch the full interview in the video above.